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Cedric
Humphries was the son of Henry Alfred John and Ethel Eliza
Humphries of Kidderminster. He is the only man on the two
Memorials at Royal Grammar School Worcester (RGS) who is
not an Old Boy of the school. He joined the RGS as an
assistant master in 1935 and was Housemaster at Whiteladies
until his call up for military service in 1940. A Cambridge
graduate, he was well known in both rugby and cricket
circles in the county before the war. He played several
games for Worcestershire C.C.C. and was an outstanding
member of the combined Worcestershire and Herefordshire XV.
As a devoted coach he contributed much to the running of
rugby and cricket teams at the Royal Grammar School
He had been involved in training and instructional work with
the Army until shortly before his death, and, indeed,
visited Worcester Grammar School on embarkation leave just
four weeks before he was killed in action. After the war,
subscriptions were collected and a seat, suitably inscribed,
was placed in front of the old pavilion on flagge Meadow so
that he, as the ‘Worcesterian’ puts it, “.. .will be for
ever remembered in the green setting where his heart once
glowed with enthusiasm for the games he loved.”
Cedric
Humphries trained as an Officer Cadet and was then
commissioned in to the Worcestershire Regiment as a 2nd
Lieutenant on the 28th December 1940
At the
time of his death he was attached to the 4th Somerset Light
Infantry Regiment who at the time were holding a position at
the small German village of Pannenschopp near the Dutch/German
frontier. Such are the fortunes of war that Captain
Humphries was to die on the morning of the 18th November
1944 when by chance a 105 mm enemy shell hit the slit trench
he was in, instantly killing him and 2nd Lieut. Ken Oxland (an
NSO who had only just been commissioned in the field)
Captain Humphries is buried with other men of the
Worcestershire Regiment at the British War Cemetery at
Brunssun, Holland
Brunssum is a town close to the German border, approximately
35 kilometres north east of Maastricht and 11 kilometres
south east of Sittard in the southern most portion of the
Netherlands
On the Worcestershire Regiment
website you will find a copy of a booklet I wrote about the
Battle for Tripsrath, which is where most of the men wher
killed and were buried at Brunssum. The booklet can be
downloaded in PDF Format by clicking on the link below:
http://www.worcestershireregiment.com/dnld/Battle_for_Tripsrath_Booklet_revised.pdf
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